Paris: October 1
By Rebecca Voight
Pixelated prints, cinched waists and thigh high skirts are de rigueur in Paris for spring. Say what you will about morosity dictating a more sombre stance, fashion is marching to its own saucy beat.
Karl Lagerfeld got the ball rolling Wednesday morning with a black, white and metallic collection dedicated to Blade Runner futurism and geometric tailoring. The only false note here is the knee-length skirts. And when I say false that’s only because after viewing John Galliano’s tribal vixens for Christian Dior and Christophe Decarnin’s Desperately Seeking Susans at Balmain, my eye has quickly adjusted to the new flaunt-what-you’ve-got style mentality. Doubtless reality will bring those hemlines down a bit, but the image stands out nonetheless. If you have great legs now is the time.
Lagerfeld showed a tough collection that featured classic white shirts and black pants and skirts cinched with huge black patent leather corset belts. The cocktail hour had him pushing the hourglass idea further with cinched waists and double ruffled peplums in silver silk and wet-look black. One dress sported a shield-like front in metallic pleats that looked more like anti-riot protection than eveningwear. The details stood out here: tattoo jewellery by Erik Halley that had metal tendrils crawling up arms, sandals with ankle cuffs and a satchel with a pixilated portrait of Lagerfeld which would be a great item if he were doing another collection for H&M.
Andrew Gn has a super rich American clientele and in the middle of the of worst financial crisis the world has seen since the 1930s, he launched his Atelier label of 18 couture-level pieces and dedicated his spring collection to Helena Rubinstein in India. It doesn’t get more la-di-da than that. And it was a beautiful: simple shapes, often A-line, served as a backdrop for intense embroidery studded with semi precious stones: turquoise, lapis lazuli, topaz and amethyst on simple wools or paisley.
Akris is Switzerland’s major contribution to fashion and like the country, the designer Albert Kriemler’s designs are cool, collected and impeccable. Kriemler is never overt, but he managed to play with the season’s nude quotient by pairing thin pencil skirts over transparent net slips. Inspired by gardens, his pixilated floral and leaf prints in silk georgette are pleated for a even more dense look in deep-V dresses, some with transparent panels.
The big brass at Emanuel Ungaro should be feeling pretty good right now. After a merry go round of designers over the past few years, Ungaro has finally found a winner in 24-year-old Esteban Cortazar, who presented his second collection for the house. The young Columbian designer dedicated this season to his father, Valentino, a painter. It’s short, it’s cinched, it’s full of Caribbean prints in bright, but still subtle colors, and there’s plenty of flounces, transparency and sex appeal all on pin-heel sandals to woo those party loving girls with plenty of cash who will also be shopping at Dior and Balmain next spring.
Dries Van Noten cleared the slate this season, working exclusively with geometrics (stripes and checks) rather than his signature florals. What remains is the symbiosis of design and prints (from the Italian house Mantero). Every piece of this collection features engineered prints, i.e. the print is designed to the shape of the clothes, including one that includes 30 shades of blue. Inspired by Russian avant-garde artists at the turn of the 20th century, notably Kazimir Malevich, who originated Suprematism (art in geometric forms), Van Noten’s thick to thin stripes and checks in gradated colour showed in easy, but chic sportswear—something notably absent in collections this season.
Christian Lacroix played to his strengths. The madcap mix of prints, flounces and corseting he has espoused from the start continues and in fact it fits right in with fashion’s current ’80s revival. The only change here is that he often pairs the corsets with slouchy mens trousers—a casual touch that gives his baroque fashion a fresh start.
Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy is the epitome of goth chic and his clothes fit in with the Balmain, Dior, Ungaro and Giambattista Valli what-you-see-is-what-you-get sexiness that is currently at the epicentre of Paris fashion. Tisci called this collection “Western Bondage” and that means criss-cross, openwork tops in black python and fancy rodeo appliqué stretch pants in black and white. This isn’t subtle and for most of us, it’s not even wearable. Even if you could wear it, would you want to? More to the point are the full-skirted one-shouldered party dresses with Edwardian detailing and narrow, cinched jackets over sleek trousers.
We are at a pivotal moment in history and it’s strange to see that most designers’ collections have no political or social commentary to make other than a vague eco sympathy. So it was a relief to see Hussein Chalayan, who never shrinks from taking a stand, inject his world view into incredibly styled clothes. A collection like this reminds you that fashion is not always a hermetically-sealed bubble. The aerodynamic, moulded shapes were painted with car-crash images that matched the finale of crashing wine glasses. Chalayan used photographs from a junk yard for collage prints of car handles, license plates, twisted fenders and crushed windshields in body conscious draped and layered mini dresses, rompers and jumpsuits. The effect was arty, provocative and dazzling.
Sonia Rykiel is 78, and this season her house is celebrating its 40th anniversary. So the fashion crowd traipsed out to the Parc de Saint Cloud outside Paris for a dinner show and bash. The collection is a smash of Rykiel standbys from ruffle tiers to sequin patterns, marabou sheaths and a plethora of taffeta cocktail numbers. But the best was saved for the last when her daughter Nathalie, who co-designs with Rykiel, brought out thirty Sonia pieces created by the world’s best designers. My favourites were Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s black and white photo-print satin sheath with real Rykiel red hair attached, Jean Paul Gaultier’s sweater dress complete with knitting needles and Jeremy Scott’s Superman sweater. Happy birthday, Madame Rykiel!
Shown: Dries Van Noten Spring 2009. Photography by Peter Stigter
Rebecca Voight is a Paris-based freelance writer.
AKRIS | DRIES VAN NOTEN | SONIA RYKIEL
 rather than his signature florals. What remains is the symbiosis of design and prints (from the Italian house Mantero). Every piece of this collection features engineered prints, i.e. the print is designed to the shape of the clothes, including one that includes 30 shades of blue. Inspired by Russian avant-garde artists at the turn of the 20th century, notably Kazimir Malevich, who originated Suprematism (art in geometric forms), Van Noten’s thick to thin stripes and checks in gradated colour showed in easy, but chic sportswear—something notably absent in collections this season.
Christian Lacroix played to his strengths. The madcap mix of prints, flounces and corseting he has espoused from the start continues and in fact it fits right in with fashion’s current ’80s revival. The only change here is that he often pairs the corsets with slouchy mens trousers—a casual touch that gives his baroque fashion a fresh start.
Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy is the epitome of goth chic and his clothes fit in with the Balmain, Dior, Ungaro and Giambattista Valli what-you-see-is-what-you-get sexiness that is currently at the epicentre of Paris fashion. Tisci called this collection “Western Bondage” and that means criss-cross, openwork tops in black python and fancy rodeo appliqué stretch pants in black and white. This isn’t subtle and for most of us, it’s not even wearable. Even if you could wear it, would you want to? More to the point are the full-skirted one-shouldered party dresses with Edwardian detailing and narrow, cinched jackets over sleek trousers.
We are at a pivotal moment in history and it’s strange to see that most designers’ collections have no political or social commentary to make other than a vague eco sympathy. So it was a relief to see Hussein Chalayan, who never shrinks from taking a stand, inject his world view into incredibly styled clothes. A collection like this reminds you that fashion is not always a hermetically-sealed bubble. The aerodynamic, moulded shapes were painted with car-crash images that matched the finale of crashing wine glasses. Chalayan used photographs from a junk yard for collage prints of car handles, license plates, twisted fenders and crushed windshields in body conscious draped and layered mini dresses, rompers and jumpsuits. The effect was arty, provocative and dazzling.
Sonia Rykiel is 78, and this season her house is celebrating its 40th anniversary. So the fashion crowd traipsed out to the Parc de Saint Cloud outside Paris for a dinner show and bash. The collection is a smash of Rykiel standbys from ruffle tiers to sequin patterns, marabou sheaths and a plethora of taffeta cocktail numbers. But the best was saved for the last when her daughter Nathalie, who co-designs with Rykiel, brought out thirty Sonia pieces created by the world’s best designers. My favourites were Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s black and white photo-print satin sheath with real Rykiel red hair attached, Jean Paul Gaultier’s sweater dress complete with knitting needles and Jeremy Scott’s Superman sweater. Happy birthday, Madame Rykiel!
Shown: Dries Van Noten Spring 2009. Photography by Peter Stigter
Rebecca Voight is a Paris-based freelance writer.
AKRIS | DRIES VAN NOTEN | SONIA RYKIEL
FASHION WEEK | SPRING 2009){kind=link}